


Mother's Gifts - Day 12

by Glimare



Series: Twelve Days They Never Speak About Around the Old Ones, Except the Last Part [12]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:07:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28252140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glimare/pseuds/Glimare
Summary: The Wayne Christmas parties take place and Damian gets a valuable present and some answers.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Talia al Ghul & Damian Wayne, Talia al Ghul/Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Alfred Pennyworth & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
Series: Twelve Days They Never Speak About Around the Old Ones, Except the Last Part [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055210
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Mother's Gifts - Day 12

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for enjoying this series with me. Just remember I wrote this years ago so it's not that amazing. Nor current. Enjoy anyway! ^^V

Damian was not enjoying the party, not really. Despite it being designed in part by his mother and being culturally appropriate for their class, he was not having fun. Grayson mentioned that this was the public party. The Waynes would be having a real party after everyone was gone, or a real Christmas as he put it. This public party was only being held because it was the Waynes' turn to throw it. Some agreement or another within the elite society. Once the social obligations were done, they could have some real fun.

Yet even the knowledge that all this was just for show couldn't lighten his spirits. Eighteen professional dancers had regaled the audience for an hour with a shortened rendition of the Nutcracker. The Geliefde Ensemble performed during the traditional Christmas banquet, complete with swan and geese centerpieces and as the main course (he even took a few bites, just to see what they tasted like). And now they were expected to dance with the others, all to the musical talents of the band that arrived that morning because of his mother.

Their arrival made his many adoptive siblings break out into howls of laughter. A Germany based group called Zwolf Trommeln. They weren't half bad to tell the truth, but something about them made his predecessors roll on the floor. Grayson officially stated Mother had an amazing sense of humor and it was clear Damian's brains didn't just come from Father.

Yet all this would not cheer him up. Maybe it was because he nibbled on those birds. More than likely it was because he hadn't gone on patrol for the past four nights and was forbidden to go out that night as well. Course Drake and Grayson hadn't gone out lately either. Father was even staying home after the maids appeared, for security reasons. Todd and Cain were there, along with Brown and Gordon, both of them. Thompkins was about as well, along with the Foxs. Nearly everyone associated with the Bat-clan was there that night, and yet he wasn't quite happy.

Getting all these gifts from his mother made him want to see her again, even for a little bit. He swore he saw Kyle there for a while, even dancing with Father, but he hadn't seen her for very long. Likely she left around the same time Todd and Cain disappeared. Grayson, Drake, Brown, and Gordon were going in and out of the crowd, sometimes dancing, sometimes conversing, but they weren't always there. They were helping with security. Only he and Father were forbidden from escaping the party for a moment. The problem with being a proper Wayne was having to keep up appearances.

"Bored yet?"

Damian jerked his head up to see Grayson smiling at him just over his shoulder. They all looked nice in their suits, but he really knew how to look dashing at a party. Every other person said so at least. The kid shrugged. "As if I wasn't before."

This only brought a bigger smile to the man's face. "You're starting to sound like an eleven-year-old! At last! Progress!"

"What do you want Grayson?" He did not want to deal with the most cheerful person on the face of the planet, not right then at least.

"Just wanted to see if you wanted to ditch this and join the rest of us in the playroom." That won him an odd look. What? "It's past eleven. The party's going to end at midnight officially, but it's pretty much over already. The dancers are getting hammered in the guest house, the pipers left hours ago, and most kids are asleep dreaming of sugarplums by now. The band's winding down for the..."

Dick's voice trailed off as he spotted something he didn't expect. Damian looked at him in confusion for a moment then followed his line of sight. His heart leapt into his throat. His parents were dancing on the floor, both of them. No fighting, barely saying a word to each other. They seemed so... content. At least his mother was.

For a very brief moment he recalled how she disowned him and how she tried to have him killed, but all of it went out the window as he watched the two who gave him life danced together. The last dance. And it was theirs. It was perfect.

"What is she... Damian!" The young man tried to grab his kid brother but he slipped away from him faster than any Flash, a child running to his mother. He stopped short of actually interrupting them, standing five feet away but watching intently, longing in his face.

His father spotted him first, his lips quirking slightly. "Talia, I believe someone wishes to cut in."

The woman breathed out slowly, sliding out of her beloved's arms reluctantly. Damian could see she didn't really want to leave his father but did so because he asked her to. It made his heartthrob a bit but he kept his face still, like his father. Slowly she spoke to him. "Hello, Damian. Have you been well?"

"Well enough, Mother. I... I would like to thank you for those gifts you have sent us." Nerves ate within the boy. There was a lot he wanted to say and do in regards to this woman, but right then... "Wou... Would you care to dance?"

Her lips tightened, silently telling him one thing while her eyes said another. She was torn between proper pride and her motherly feelings. He had betrayed her after all, and she him. This wasn't an easy choice for her. Dancing with Father was normal. They used to dance together when she was her father's pawn, why would it be any different now they were officially enemies?

Bruce saw the conflict silently battling within each of them and between them. He put a hand on Talia's shoulder and leaned into her ear. "You have given me many gifts these past twelve days. Damian has accepted each of them in my place when I was not around and he suspected no foul play. Christmas is about family. The least you could do is give him one dance. All will be the same on the twenty-sixth, but just this night, give him the one thing he wants most of all: his mother's love."

His former love looked at him once, the stubbornness leaving her body slowly. She was almost the woman he loved during Damian's conception again. Almost. Too much had happened since to put everything back the way it was. This was just for the holiday. A small smile graced her face, kind and true. She looked back to their son, offering her hand. "Of course, my son. But we must hurry. I believe the music will end soon."

"I'll handle the music. Enjoy yourselves," Bruce stated, smiling to his son. Damian's eyes lit up greatly, smiling and looking his age for once in his life. He left the two of them to enjoy their dance and ask the 'twelve drummers' to play just one last piece for him. As a gift for one lonely little boy who could have what the rest of his family couldn't: one last dance with their mother.

* * *

Damian was struggling to stay awake in the 'playroom' where the rest of the bat-clan had gathered. Jason and Cass had ditched early to start a Ping-Pong melee, gear on hand in case Red Hood or Black Bat would be needed downstairs. Tim and Stephanie went back and forth between mingling and dancing at the party to competing with them. Later Dick had gotten Barbara in on it, along with Helena and Selina, plus brought out karaoke for fun. A few other close friends and allies were invited to their fun party, but the majority of them had to get home before the snow settled in too far. Stephanie was going to leave with Barbara 'soon', but it was looking like they'd be staying the night after all.

Everyone was gone downstairs, finally. Bruce and Alfred had finally joined them, one flopping onto the couch next to Damian while the other started serving hot chocolate and marshmallows. Bruce picked up a random holiday book Dick had put on the coffee table earlier that week as cheap Christmas decorations and pulled a sleepy, content Damian against him. _The Polar Express_ was always better if it was shared and the boy didn't object in the slightest to being read to like this. At the end of it, he looked up to the cheap tree and decorations the kids had put together. It didn't look too bad, but it was extremely childish. Edible decorations, some falling apart on the tree, it really would not be acceptable to the rest of the Gotham elite. Too bad it was perfect for them.

"Father?"

"Hm?" Hearing Damian's voice, sleepy and childlike, Bruce didn't mind being dragged out of his thoughts. It was rather nice. The others were winding down a bit too, talking and laughing nearby with cocoa in their hands instead of fighting or competing like usual.

"What was so funny about the gifts Mother sent?"

Suddenly everyone stopped talking, looking over to him in surprise. Over the past week they had told him a lot about Christmas, from the elegant parties to the simple ones each of them had. The original Christmas story was told to him along with several commercial made ones and the true history of the holiday. He'd received that look so many times whenever he asked a question that apparently should have been answered when he was little. But this was a question he asked several times earlier and no one answered. He wanted answers.

Bruce sighed, just as the others exchanged laughing looks. Time to give up the joke. "It's because they followed a song."

"A song?"

"It's a song that builds upon itself," he explained.

"But the last verse goes like this," Dick piped in. He had promised to tell him after all, and everyone wanted to be there and help. It was nearly the most annoying carol of the season. He started and they all joined in whenever they wanted to.

_On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me-_

_Twelve drummers drumming_

_Eleven pipers piping_

_Ten lords a-leaping_

_Nine ladies dancing_

_Eight maids a-milking_

_Seven swans a-swimming_

_Six geese a-laying_

_Five golden rings!_ (every one of the bat-kids near shouted that part)

_Four calling birds_

_Three French hens_

_Two turtle doves_

_And a partridge in a pear tree!_

Damian just blinked at them all as the majority of them laugh. Even Cass was snickering. She may have had a bad childhood, but she spent a lot more time around people than he did and heard carols often in the past, before meeting Barbara or any Robin. Dick composed himself first, grinning from ear to ear. "Talia sent every single one of those over here for Bruce. We didn't understand why, we just thought it was funny."

"Where are the three French hens?"

The kid's question made him look away, sipping his cocoa in a not so subtle fashion. Jason just laughed and started singing again. "The first day after Christmas, my true love and I had a fight."

END

**Author's Note:**

> And that's a wrap! Hope you liked this series and hope all the things I got in general wrong don't offend you too much. I was just making a story and this was some time ago.  
> The Polar Express is a tradition in my family that I'm glad to share. Looking forward to reading it tonight before bed.
> 
> And of course, MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM 2020!
> 
> and 2016 =P


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